Misinformation

The Obama administration’s talking heads (including Obama) frequently claim their opposition is spreading ‘misinformation’. Methinks that is like the pot calling the kettle black.

These days, finding the truth requires research. You sure as heck won’t find it by listening to Whitehouse spokes-heads. Or any other politician.

Sometimes, you can glean the truth by watching shows that pit persons of opposite viewpoints against each other in debate, such as Bill O’Reilly, or Huckabee, for instance. This requires critical thinking, however. Often you have to be careful to winnow out your own preconceived notions which distort your own view.

Quoting Robert A. Heinlein’s “The Notebooks of Lazarus Long”:

What are the facts? Again and again and again — what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretell,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable “verdict of history” — what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!

Without the facts, it is impossible to accurately make good decisions about anything.

-Popgun

Gold!

I keep seeing ads on TV by companies that want you to “invest in” i.e. buy gold.

Okay – I know I’m probably missing something here. If gold is such a great investment, and if this company has all this gold to sell – why aren’t they keeping it?

It looks to me like if it was a great investment, they’d hang on to all the gold.

Just sayin’.

-Popgun

2.24 Million $ per Word

Wow.

The House health care bill unveiled Thursday clocks in at 1,990 pages and about 400,000 words. With an estimated 10-year cost of $894 billion, that comes out to about $2.24 million per word.

From Politico.

That’s more than half as long as the King James Bible.

-Popgun

Today is my Sister’s Birthday

Today I celebrate the lives of my sister and my mother, in this small way.

Today (October 29) is my sister’s birthday. Four years my senior, she would have been 60 today, if she had survived. I miss her still, although when she was here, in her later years I didn’t spend a lot of time with her. Sometimes you don’t know what you have, until it is suddenly gone. She died at age 44, of liver failure – she was an alcoholic. Her death was one of the most stressful things that has ever happened to me. I was the second person on the scene at her death – her body was still warm. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.

Then, there is my mother, who passed away on October 30, 2000. I was there at her passing. A heavy smoker, she died of a combination of COPD and dementia; when she died, and for some months before that, she did not know who I was. Her passing, really, was a blessing. COPD causes shortness of breath – a victim usually has a low-level panicked feeling all the time, perhaps a ‘drowning’ feeling. My mother was suffering from this for several years before I found out there was a medical reason for it. During that period, I thought she was going nuts. In reality she was having panic attacks and paranoid attacks that frequently caused her to behave irrationally.   

At this point, I am the last survivor of my birth family. My Dad passed away before my sister did.

Death represents the end of pain. Sometimes, for everybody involved.

If you’re a Christian, that is. Neither my sister nor my mother were what I would call ‘practicing’ Christians – but they were both acquainted with the Bible, and the precepts of Christianity. I do hope they were saved. If so, I expect that I will get to see them again.

A person generally is exposed to more death as he ages. It seems that probably, on average, half of everybody you know will die before you do. As my neighbor says, “Don’t worry about life. You’re not getting out of it alive!”.

A young person doesn’t really perceive that death will happen to him – it is off in some distant future. On the other hand, an older person knows that his time will come. This causes different reactions in different people.

Some people, if you were to throw them out of an airplane at 30,000 feet without a parachute, would scream all the way down. Others would enjoy the view for as long as possible.

I plan to enjoy the view.

Cheers!

-Popgun

Predictions I Made a Year Ago

About a year ago, 10/23/2008, I made a number of predictions about how it would go if Obama was elected. I thought this would be a good time to revisit them, and see how I did.

The predictions I made are below – my current comments are in bold italics.

1. There will be an increased government bureaucracy ; and increased government spending to go with it. Boy, I nailed this one!
2. Since that has to be paid for, there will be increased taxation. Yes, on everybody with an income, one way or the other. ALL taxes eventually filter down to the wage-earning citizen. Starting with SCHIP, and more – much more – on the way.
3. Obama will attempt to implement his medical care program. If he is successful, medical care may become less expensive – but the quality and availability of care will decline over time. (As is the case in Great Britain and Canada). He is certainly trying to implement this – the outcome is too soon to tell.
4. It will increasingly be a bad environment for business; more taxation = less profit. Look for more business to relocate overseas. There will be more unemployment. Prices of consumer goods will increase as the additional taxation is passed on to customers. All of this is happening right now.
5. There will be inroads made against free trade agreements with other countries. Imports will cost more. Exports will decline, further damaging our economy. Not sure about this one – the dollar is worth less, so this should be true, but I haven’t followed this closely.
6. The economy will decline to deep recession levels, at best. (This may happen no matter who wins). Here we are!
7. Our military will, over time, be defunded and emasculated, in order to shift funding to other (welfare type) programs. Pulling out of Iraq, canceling missile defense systems in various places, cutting funding for fighter planes, shutting down Gitmo, can’t decide whether it’s a good political move to support Afghanistan…
8. There will likely be new attacks by terrorists both inside and outside the U.S. who think Obama won’t retaliate. There have been several attempts inside the US, and notice the recent major bombings in Iraq and Pakistan.
9. There will be a general withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. In the works now.
10. Iran will be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Iranian influence in the Middle East will increase. In the works. It remains to be seen if Israel will take action independent of the U.S., but it is doubtful we will act to stop Iran.
11. Drilling for oil in the U.S. will be curtailed, while Obama’s alternate energy “Manhattan Project” will be implemented. As a result, until alternate-energy-powered cars are economically available, you will pay more for gasoline. Lots more. Both ground and air travel will decline over time as it becomes too expensive. Drilling for oil has certainly been curtailed. I still think much higher fuel prices are on the way, but it’s not here yet. I missed on the alternate energy project.
12. Obama will select liberal judges for the Supreme Court, who are not strict interpreters of the Constitution. The Democratic congress will rubber-stamp them. Fact. See Sotomayor.
13. Pro-abortion groups will be in their ascendency – laws allowing unlimited abortion will be passed within the limits imposed by the (liberal) Supreme Court. The conservatives are doing their best to keep abortion funding out of the health care reform bill now being debated. It remains to be seen whether they will be successful.
14. Institution of the ‘Fairness Doctrine’ which will shut down conservative talk radio, and make it harder for any right-wing message to be heard. Hasn’t happened yet. Instead, they are actually trying to do the same thing through administrative rules, bypassing the need to vote on it. To soon to tell if they will succeed.
15. Every possible obstruction to our Second Amendment gun rights will be implemented. The Second Amendment guarantees that we can own guns. However, there is no such guarantee about cost, quantity, or type. Obama will not protect manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits, and he is in favor of restricting ‘certain types of guns’. Laws will be passed requiring hardware modifications that will make most guns either useless or out of the financial reach of most Americans. So far, I missed this one totally. I’m fairly sure they will get around to it, but it’s not as high on their priority list as I thought.

Potential results – not as likely as above, but possible:

1. Nationalization of the oil companies (already called for by some Democrats). Not yet. Just major banks and automobile manufacturers.
2. Suppression of free speech will become more prevalent. Try Googling “Obama’s Truth Squads“. 487,000 hits! Notice the attempts by this administration to muzzle Fox News.
3. The public school system will become a tool of indoctrination for the political left. (See Obama’s involvement with the Annenberg Challenge – purposed to indoctrinate school children with Bill Ayer’s beliefs!). Lots of little kids being taught songs praising Obama these days…
4. Total collapse of the economy to depression era levels – or below. Thank God, no. Yet.
5. Iran will attempt to destroy Israel with it’s new nuclear weapons, due to their belief that we will not retaliate. Not yet.
6. The end of the United States as a world power. Not yet – although Obama has done so much bowing and apologizing that he is most certainly seen as a weak president, internationally.

All things considered, I did pretty good, I think. Certainly not bad for an aging farm boy.

-Popgun

Pelosi’s Approval Rating

Ha! Obama said:

“Nancy Pelosi is not simply the first woman Speaker of the House — I think she’s going to go down as one of the greatest Speakers of all time.”

Snort. Her job approval in her home demographic is only 34%!

Proof that Obama is delusional.

-Popgun

Different Viewpoints

Everyone has their own way of looking at things. Currently, there seem to be two opposing viewpoints of how to manage our country.

Liberals want more government, more government control of individuals, less individual rights, and has the view that the government will take care of all your needs. This is called the ‘nanny state’.

They also tend to believe that you are a victim of your upbringing and are not responsible for bad choices you may make. This is why liberal judges tend to let child molesters off the hook.

Liberals tend to be pro-abortion. They call this ‘pro-choice’, although the baby involved doesn’t get a choice.

Liberals believe in involuntary redistribution of wealth, possibly for humanitarian reasons.

Liberals believe the Constitution of the United States should be ‘interpreted’ according to their viewpoint.

Liberals tend to be anti-second amendment because they do not believe any individual can be trusted with a gun, and the idea that people are walking around in Walmart carrying a concealed hand gun scares the crap out of them. Even if those people are not felons.

Conservatives (real ones, that is) believe in maximum personal freedom, the smallest government that can do the proper roll of government. This is very cost-effective.

Conservatives believe in personal responsibility for individual choices. This is why conservative judges think child molesters should be shot.

Conservatives tend to be anti-abortion. Most of them see this as the murder of babies, purely for the convenience of immature and selfish parents who don’t take responsibility for their actions.

Conservatives are generally against involuntary redistribution of wealth, which they correctly view as robbery at gunpoint. (Think that’s an exaggeration? Try not paying your taxes. Eventually, somebody with a gun will show up to collect or to put you in jail. They will have guns.)

Conservatives believe the Constitution of the United States should be strictly interpreted according to the intent of the authors.

Conservatives generally are pro-second amendment because they believe honest citizens can be trusted with guns – both to use them when needed, and not to use them inappropriately. Law abiding citizens walking around in Walmart with guns don’t bother me. I know that they are not a risk to me or mine; only a felon (or wannabe felon) is a risk with a gun. And the best defense against the felon with a gun is to myself be armed, since the felon will not obey the law that says he can’t have a gun.

How do you know which philosophy is the right one?

That’s a deep question. There are many frameworks of belief that may help you decide, such as the Holy Bible. There is also how you were brought up, what you learned from your parents (or whoever raised you, these days).

As for me, I know that, as a child, I was taught a sense of honor. I was also taught a work ethic that to this day makes me get up every day and go to my job to earn my own way and provide for my family. I believe that I am worth my wages, and I believe that they are mine, not yours. I believe in personal responsibility. I believe that I can be trusted with a gun, because I know my own mind, and furthermore I believe I have the responsibility to protect my family if necessary. I have seen more than one couple grieve as they buried a miscarried child, and I know that abortion is murder. I believe in my personal freedom – and yours, too.

And I resent every dime I pay in taxes that is given to somebody who doesn’t deserve it, or is otherwise wasted. I do believe in charity – but it should be voluntary. And I don’t believe that people who are unwilling to work should receive a single dime of charity. Charity should be reserved for those who want to provide for themselves, but cannot because of circumstances such as health or age.

I have self respect because I have worked hard to do the best I could with my life. Others have done better, and some have done worse. But the key is to do your best. I paid my rent on my chunk of the planet today, and I feel pretty good about that.

I can’t say why you should choose one philosophy or the other – but I know which one I’ve chosen.

-Popgun

Health Insurance Profits

Obama, Pelosi and Reid are painting the insurance companies as greedy pirates, making obscene profits.

The facts seem to indicate that, in reality, health insurance margins (profit) is somewhere between 2% and 6%.

Not only is this not piracy, but this fact has other implications:

If you think about it, this implies that the insurance companies are very efficient in their competition with each other. They would make more money in that field if it was there to be made. This implies that they cannot lower rates much lower without operating at a loss. Competition has driven the profits down to this level! This strongly makes the case that current costs are close to the minimum possible to operate the system.

If so, requiring insurance companies to cover everyone, without regard to prior conditions, simply must cause rates to rise from their current level.

This also strongly supports the idea that a ‘public’ option which could be run by the government at a loss (since we’re all paying for it) would in fact drive the insurance companies out of the health care business, very quickly.

Once the insurance companies are gone, there is no mechanism to limit what the government charges for their insurance. The government has the power of taxation. Of course, the government won’t call it taxation – they’ll just call it your insurance bill. But you’ll go to jail, if you don’t pay.

I don’t see how any government revamping of health care is going to save us any money, nor do I see how it will improve health care.

Personally, I like the current situation – where buying insurance is voluntary. If the Democrats have their way, we won’t have any choice.

-Popgun

Mac Ads

The funny thing about the Mac ads (vs Windows 7) is that they are based on truth.

I’m beginning to think that John Hodgman actually works for Microsoft…

-Popgun

Public Service for Obama

I’ve read in several places – here’s one of them – that quite a few TV shows are going to be running plots that support Obama’s push for the public to volunteer for public service.

There’s nothing wrong with doing public service, especially voluntarily.

Having said that, I strongly resist any effort at being persuaded to do so by propaganda embedded in entertainment media. It is propaganda, pure and simple, regardless of the source.

So I’m here to say to Hollywood and their advertisers: I will not watch any TV show that is pushing this propaganda. If I am watching a show and I detect that it has this propaganda in it, I will change the channel or turn the TV off.

In the real world, media always has an agenda. Traditionally it has been to promote the products of the advertisers, in some way. For instance, the McDonald’s advertising in “The Fifth Element” comes to mind.

This is different. This is mass manipulation of the public with a coordinated goal at the urging of a politician. Even if there is no direct control or collusion, even if Hollywood is doing this spontaneously, I reject any such message. This is a (albeit very mild) form of mind control, and I reject it.

I refuse to be manipulated.

Recommended Reading: The Notebooks of Lazarus Long by Robert A. Heinlein.   Especially this part:

Do not confuse “duty” with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants “just a few minutes of your time, please — this won’t take long.” Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!

So learn to say No – and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don’t do it because it is “expected” of you.  

-Popgun